The University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) celebrated the 9th Annual Joint Research and Innovation Seed Grant Program with a scientific seminar and reception held in the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building at the College Park campus on Oct. 17. Part of the University of Maryland: Mpowering the State initiative, the seed grant program cultivates research collaboration across disciplines and between the two universities.

The celebration opened with presentations by the 2015 Seed Grant awardees discussing their collaborative research and the progress they have made since receiving the grant. The 2015 awardees presented the following research projects:

"Development of an Implantable Device to Determine Cancer Cell Response to Chemotherapy in Real Time"

John Basile (UMB School of Dentistry, Department of Oncology and Diagnostic Sciences), Elisabeth Smela (UMCP A. James Clark School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Institute for Systems Research), Pamela Abshire (UMCP A. James Clark School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Institute for Systems Research), and Yan Shu (UMB School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

"A Non-Invasive & Cost-Effective Approach for Lung Cancer Screening"

Feng Jiang (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Pathology), Jiuzhou “John” Song (UMCP College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences), Mei-Ling Ting Lee (UMCP School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Institute for Applied Environmental Health), Martin J. Edelman (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Radiation Oncology), Nevins W. Todd (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Physiology), Whitney Burrows (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Surgery), Stanford A. Stass (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Pathology), and Jean Jeudy (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine)

Lisa M. Shulman (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Neurology), Amitabh Varshney (UMCP College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Department of Computer Science; UMD Institute for Advanced Computer Studies), Ann L. Gruber-Baldini (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health), and F. Rainer von Coelln (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Neurology)

"Nanotopographic Diagnostic Panel for Breast Cancer Metastasis"

Wolfgang Losert (UMCP College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Department of Physics; Institute for Physical Science & Technology; Institute for Research in Electronics & Applied Physics), John Fourkas (UMCP College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Institute for Physical Science and Technology), and Stuart Martin (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Physiology)

“The Joint Research and Innovation Seed Grant program is a wonderful effort of our Mpowering the State initiative, which aims to facilitate seamless interdisciplinary collaborations between our College Park and Baltimore campuses,” said Amitabh Varshney, UMCP interim vice president and chief research officer and a 2015 Seed Grant Awardee. “We are thankful that these seed grants will continue to bring together the combined research expertise of our College Park and Baltimore campuses to positively impact human lives.”

The presentations were followed by a reception in the atrium of the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, where UMCP President Wallace D. Loh and UMB President Jay A. Perman delivered remarks. Bruce Jarrell, UMB chief academic and research officer, senior vice president, dean of the Graduate School, announced the 2016 Seed Grant Awardees, listed below:

"Development of Computational Modeling to Identify Symptom Changes in Schizophrenia and Depression"

Deanna Kelly (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry) and Philip Resnik (UMCP College of Arts and Humanities, Department of Linguistics; UMCP College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Department of Computer Science; UMD Institute for Advanced Computer Studies))

"Geospatial Mapping and Access to Cancer Screening Services in Nigeria, a Low and Middle Income Country"

Clement Adebamowo (UMB School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health) and Kathleen Stewart (UMCP College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Department of Geographical Sciences)

“Together, our researchers are making discoveries to advance health for all Maryland citizens,” said University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh. “The researchers' complementary skills and expertise magnifies the impact of their work. We are more powerful working together.”

The University of Maryland Research and Innovation Seed Grant program has fostered creative teams of investigators working across disciplinary boundaries and campuses, supported new research foci and basic science tracks to pursue future health care improvements and technologies, and stimulated submission and funding of innovative basic and translational science research proposals to federal, public or private funding agencies since 2008. A total of 60 projects have been sponsored across six schools and colleges at UMCP and four schools at UMB, resulting in over 40 research publications, nearly 100 research presentations, and seven invention disclosures and patents.